Law Times

Law Times • February 6, 2012 NEWS PAGE 3 Lawyer warns about charges for tweeting RIDE stops Publicizing locations of police checks provoked outcry during holiday season BY KENNETH JACKSON For Law Times Toronto criminal defence lawyer. "You can go to jail," says Paul T Burstein of tweets about the locations of the police checks. "In fact, it can be prosecuted by indictment and you can go to a penitentiary." Doing so could prompt a charge of attempted obstruction of justice, according to Burstein, who was reacting to recent con- cerns by Toronto police about the phenomenon of tweeting RIDE locations. Basically, police and pros- ecutors would have to prove someone was in fact the person tweeting the RIDE check with the intention to warn drunk drivers, says Burstein. "Assuming they could link it to a person, yeah, I would say that established probable grounds for attempt to obstruct justice." That's a potentially scary proposition considering that all someone did was type a few words into their smartphone's Twitter application. But it's more than that, says Toronto police Sgt. Tim Burrows. According to Burrows, people may be helping drunk drivers avoid justice that could ultimately lead to them killing someone's spouse, child or friend with their vehicle. Burrows notes police are used to drivers flashing their lights to warn of speed traps. While they know there are applications for people to download that warn them of the traps and red-light cameras, tweeting RIDE checks really hits a nerve. Burrows sent out a tweet of his own on Christmas Eve: "If you tweet a #RIDE location tonight, make sure you also apol- ogize tomorrow to any families who lose a loved one to a drunk driver." Dozens of people retweeted the message, and many more wrote Burrows expressing sup- port. "That touched a nerve with a lot of people, and I think the reason why I decided to take that one on is this isn't just a matter of trying to get people to avoid a ticket or slow down in a speeding zone," he says. "This was people that were allowing or helping others continue a crim- inal offence or avoid criminal prosecution. I think there is no room for that." Burrows agrees that tweeting RIDE locations could prompt criminal charges. "On its face, yes, it certainly could be consid- ered an attempt to obstruct jus- tice," he says. "The reality is being a social media network, trying to prove the intent of what someone was doing and the actual identity of the person doing it [is diffi- cult]. There are so many things that play into it. Going that route would be very arduous." ntitled-1 1 With 30 years of Supreme Court of Canada experience, Eugene Meehan Q.C., Marie-France Major and Thomas Slade are ready to advise and prepare SCC documents; provide overall strategic advice and technical compliance with SCC rules and guidelines; research and write leaves to appeal and appeal factums for lawyer-clients; and be involved in the preparation, acceptance of service and filing of client documents. Eugene was Chief Justice Lamer's (first) Executive Legal Officer, Marie-France clerked to Justice LaForest, and Tom former Articles Editor for the Ottawa Law Review. We thank our fabulous colleagues at Lang Michener and McMillan for (between us) 30 plus great years. Think of us as '911 Supreme Court'. CONTACT US 397 Gladstone Avenue, Suite 100, Ottawa ON K2P 0Y9 www.supremeadvocacy.ca @supremeadvocacy SUPREME ADVOCACY LLP We announce the opening of our new Supreme Court Advocacy & Agency Boutique, Supreme Advocacy LLP. Law Society Treasurer Laurie H. Pawlitza is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert G.W. Lapper, Q.C., as Chief Executive Officer of The Law Society of Upper Canada. Lapper, who joined the Law Society on February 1, 2012, was formerly the Deputy Minister of Labour for the Province of British Columbia, a post he held since 2009. From 2007 to 2009, he served as the Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Associate Deputy Minister, Cabinet Operations and Intergovernmental Relations, in the Office of the Premier. He was responsible for providing strategic advice and logistic support to the Cabinet, the Premier and government on the relations between British Columbia and other governments. For seven years, beginning in 2001, Lapper was the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Legal Services Branch, for the Province of British Columbia. He oversaw a complete organizational and service transformation in the Legal Services Branch during his tenure there. He was honoured with a Queen's Counsel appointment in December 2002. In 1994, after clerking with the British Columbia Supreme Court and then working in private practice for 10 years, Lapper joined the Ministry of the Attorney General for British Columbia, to focus on aboriginal law issues. He acted as one of the counsel to the Nisga'a negotiations, which concluded the first "modern" treaty in British Columbia. In 1998, he was appointed to head the Aboriginal Law Practice Group in the Legal Services Branch. The Law Society regulates the lawyers and paralegals of Ontario in the public interest. The Law Society has a mandate to protect the public interest, to maintain and advance the cause of justice and the rule of law, to facilitate access to justice for the people of Ontario and act in a timely, open and efficient manner. weeting the location of a police RIDE check for drunk drivers could land someone in prison, says a Burrows notes police would likely save that option for the most extreme cases. Asked why police don't make an example out of someone to grab newspaper headlines, Burrows says it's not a bad idea but doing so would take resources. "You also have to balance that with what are the needs of the community and what are the resources available. Do you have a dedicated unit to enforce those types of crimes? Those are all challenges we face. Nowadays, we really have to take a hard look." That's why, Burrows adds, police go onto social media web sites in order to address grey areas of the law and edu- cate the public. Police in Kingston, Ont., have also had their prob- lems with people tweeting RIDE checks. Const. Steve Koopman has similar views to Burrows on the issue. The veteran police officer knows the amount of time it could take to pinpoint a name to a tweet. Koopman says he'd first have to contact the Internet service provider for the name and Internet protocol address. In the meantime, he'd have to get a warrant. Then, armed with the name and address of the accused, he'd have to draft another warrant to enter the person's home to seize the computer or smartphone. Once he's done that, police would have to search the data on the electronics. All of that is just to see if police can lay charges. "Even if we've done that, now he'll say, 'I lent my phone to my sister or girlfriend or my phone went missing or something.' You have to prove who is behind the keyboard or in this case the smart- phone," says Koopman. In the end, Koopman feels public shaming by other tweeters is probably the best weapon. "I have noticed how the public has stepped up for the police and almost done the shaming themselves," he says. That was certainly the case in Toronto, where other tweeters called RIDE tattlers "losers" and "dirt bags." LT 'You can go to jail,' says Paul Burstein of the RIDE tweets. ANNOUNCEMENT Robert G.W. Lapper appointed as Chief Executive Officer of The Law Society of Upper Canada www.lawtimesnews.com 12-01-30 10:25 AM

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